Tag: Author’s Note

Author’s Note: Adding to the Fun

Posted on by bryon

While tooling around online, I came across someone who unabashedly used the word “funnest” in a sentence. The Internet is a wonderful place, and I spend a lot of time there, but it isn’t necessarily a haven for grammar purity.

The usage irked me, and the sneaking suspicion that it’s slowly becoming standard irked me even more. A quick search led me (naturally) to both Grammar Girl and the Grammarist. The short version of both is that I was right to be irked: those of us who would rather rake our nails across a chalkboard than to use “funner” or “funnest” are likely on the losing end of linguistic history. There’s nothing fun about that.
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Author’s Note: Let’s Try This Again

Posted on by bryon

This week marks a hopeful return to regular posting at Catsignal. At minimum, there will be a new haiku and a new Quotable each Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively. I hope also to post weekly about something happening in the writing world, an interesting piece someone else has written, or something I’ve been thinking about concerning writing. I hope you’ll join me again.

Author’s Note: Catsignal Turns 10

Posted on by bryon

Catsignal is not the happy, boisterous 10-year-old I had once envisioned it would be. The earlier days of weekly stories are long gone. The occasional haiku and even more occasional essay are about all that happen around here anymore. If ever I find the cognitive power to change that, I will. At present, chronic fatigue syndrome keeps me sleepy and brain-fogged.

On this anniversary, it seems more reasonable to look back rather than ahead. So, for those who might like to revisit the old days – or if you’re new here and wonder where to begin – here is a short list of some of my favorite stories, in chronological order.

Papal Bull

In Sure and Certain Hope

The Master of Rusbridge Manor

Folding Money

Fallen Gods

Katydid

Red Riding Hood and the Wolves

Time in a Bottle

One Low Payment

Bobblehead

Birth Order

The Devil You Know

The Last Reunion of the Capper Gang

Exposed

Angels We Have Heard While High

Personal Ad

Hansel and His Visit to the Enchanted Part of the Forest

Precarious Balance

Author’s Note: Now Comes September

Posted on by bryon

Yeah, so I took August off…

The first week, I simply couldn’t do anything. Even though I had some haiku written and plenty of quotations available, it was too much effort to open the back end of my blog and post two things. After that, I just decided to take the month off, promising myself I’d get back to at least the usual minimal posting in September.

So here I am again. And let’s hear it for muscle memory that let me remember my password to get into this place.

Thank you – so very much – for checking back to see if I’m still here. I have a great desire to write a story, a desire I haven’t felt for a long time, thanks to the CFS. I hope I can translate that desire into something worth reading before too long. Meantime, a haiku based on looking out the back door. (Plus! a new background and new text area color to try to brighten things up. What do you think?)

Author’s Note: Once More Unto Tinywords

Posted on by bryon

I got a nice piece of news recently: this haiku has been accepted for the next publication of Tinywords. Tinywords 15.1 will begin to appear online, one haiku at a time, in early February.

This is my second time in Tinywords, which is now edited by Kathe L. Palka and Peter Newton; d.f. tweney founded Tinywords and continues to publish it.

So, again, yay me!

Author’s Note: To the Least of These

Posted on by bryon

Today, cuts take effect that slash the amount of help more than 47 million needy Americans receive in nutritional assistance each month. The Congress, in its finite wisdom, is debating how much more to cut: The Democrats want to cut only “some,” and the Republicans want to cut through the bone and out the other side.

This is the real-world scenario that yesterday’s story is allegory to.

I’ll leave it to you to make the connections and will say nothing further save this: If our government accurately reflects who we are as a people, then we are a heartless, amoral bunch of bastards.

Author’s Note: Some Anniversary Changes

Posted on by bryon

As you can see, I’ve jumped the gun for Catsignal’s fifth anniversary (March 23) and have already given it a spiffy new suit of clothing. I hope you like it; I like that it doesn’t look like every other site on the WWW.

Even if I never did another thing, there’s a lot to read here. Over these five years, I have built quite a collection of haiku, short stories, articles, and flash fiction. I not-so-humbly think this makes me a small publisher of some note. That is why I have added the patronage link (or “tip jar,” as it is commonly called) in the sidebar. If you enjoy what you read here, your show of financial support would be most appreciated, and it will help keep all the stuff you like to read coming. (Yeah, I’ve seen a PBS pledge drive or two in my day.)

Another way to show your interest in this site is to comment. I’d love to know what you think about the poems and stories I write.

As always, thank you for reading Catsignal.